“Look, ¹  I myself have taken the Levites from among the Israelites instead of ²  every firstborn who opens the womb among the Israelites. So the Levites belong to me,

“Command the Israelites to expel ¹  from the camp every leper, ²  everyone who has a discharge, ³  and whoever becomes defiled by a corpse. ⁴ 

For they are entirely given ¹  to me from among the Israelites. I have taken them for myself instead of ²  all who open the womb, the firstborn sons of all the Israelites.

When ¹  the cloud remained over the tabernacle a number of days, ²  they remained camped according to the Lord’s commandment, ³  and according to the Lord’s commandment they would journey.

The Lord said to Moses, “Arrest all the leaders ¹  of the people, and hang them up ²  before the Lord in broad daylight, ³  so that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel.”

So Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Each of you must execute those of his men ¹  who were joined to Baal-peor.”

So Moses gave orders about them to Eleazar the priest, to Joshua son of Nun, and to the heads of the families of the Israelite tribes.

I furthermore admonished your judges at that time that they ¹  should pay attention to issues among your fellow citizens ²  and judge fairly, ³  whether between one citizen and another ⁴  or a citizen and a resident foreigner. ⁵ 

Moreover, at that same time the Lord commanded me to teach you statutes and ordinances for you to keep in the land which you are about to enter and possess. ¹ 

Your children ¹  will be blessed, as well as the produce of your soil, the offspring of your livestock, the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks.

Your children ¹  will be cursed, as well as the produce of your soil, the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks.

Now the king of Syria had ordered his thirty-two chariot commanders, “Do not fight common soldiers or high-ranking officers; ¹  fight only the king of Israel.”

The king ordered all the people, “Observe the Passover of the Lord your God, as prescribed in this scroll of the covenant.”

He issued this edict because ¹  a Passover like this had not been observed since the days of the judges; it was neglected for the entire period of the kings of Israel and Judah. ² 

Then David said, “Only the Levites may carry the ark of God, for the Lord chose them to carry the ark of the Lord and to serve before him perpetually.

King Asa ordered all the men of Judah to carry away the stones and wood that Baasha had used to build Ramah. ¹  He used the materials to build up ²  Geba and Mizpah.

Now the king of Syria had ordered his chariot commanders, “Do not fight common soldiers or high ranking officers; ¹  fight only the king of Israel!”

An edict was sent throughout Judah and Jerusalem requiring the people to bring to the Lord the tax that Moses, God’s servant, imposed on Israel in the wilderness. ¹ 

In Judah God moved the people to unite and carry out the edict the king and the officers had issued at the Lord’s command. ¹ 

He erected the altar of the Lord and offered on it peace offerings and thank offerings. He told the people of ¹  Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel.